Eyeballs across Kansas City will be glued to the TV this Sunday for the Chief's home opener, but if you need something to help you forget about the anxious wait — or maybe you're not a sports fan and in need of weekend plans — Up To Date's indie, foreign and documentary Film Critics have you covered. Their weekend movie recommendations are a perfect way to make the time fly by.
Cynthia Haines
Viceroy's House, Not rated
- Britain's last viceroy of India is tasked with overseeing the territory's transition to an independent nation. All hopes for a peaceful transfer of power are blown apart by a riddling conflict of race, religion and ideology.
Letters From Baghdad, Not rated
- A documentary about Gertrude Bell, the female British explorer, spy, and diplomat who helped reshape the Middle East after World War I. It was produced and directed by Kansas City native Zeva Oelbaum, who discussed her film with Steve Kraske this week.
Ingrid Goes West, R
- Unable to tell online "likes" from truly meaningful relationships, a social media stalker moves to Los Angeles to meet her Instagram idol IRL. Aubrey Plaza stars in this lol-worthy satire of technology's role in modern life.
Steve Walker
Viceroy's House, Not rated
- Charged in 1947 to oversee the dissolution of British rule over India, "Dickie" Mountbatten (Hugh Bonneville, Lord Crowley of Downton Abbey) sees India's savage rifts between the Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims played out among his palace staff.
Beach Rats, R
- In Eliza Hittman’s stinging drama, a handsome, closeted Coney Island kid played by Harris Dickinson tries to keep his same-sex attractions at bay via a girlfriend of convenience, his trash-talking homeys, and lots of drugs and alcohol.
Ingrid Goes West, R
- This sharply etched black comedy about the hunt for truth and realness among virally obsessed, status-seeking millennials is wonderfully acted, especially by Aubrey Plaza as an outcast seeking inclusion.
